Epic Fetus

Epic Fetus is an unlockable passive item.

Effects

Isaac's tears are replaced with guided missiles.
- Missiles deal 20 times Isaac's damage.

Notes

Epic Fetus is a special item.
Epic Fetus overrides most items in the game and has the highest priority of all tear modifiers, over Brimstone and Mom's Knife.
Isaac's tear delay determines how quickly a new (set of) missile(s) can be fired after the previous one has landed. Barring very high tear delay, this has little effect on damage rate due to the delay of the missiles themselves.
Missiles benefit from some bomb modifier items, though at a lesser scale compared to Dr. Fetus.

Synergies

20/20/ Bookworm/Conjoined/Mutant Spider/The Inner Eye: Fires a barrage of missiles.
Bomber Boy: Missiles explode in a large cross-shaped blast, with each explosion dealing 0.75x times damage. Unlike with regular bombs, getting hit by every separate explosion from Epic Fetus won't decrease the damage for each successive explosion, drastically increasing damage.
Blood Bombs: Every missile explosion leaves a large, lasting pool of red creep.
Blood Clot/Chemical Peel: Each missile has a 50% chance to deal 20 or 40 points more damage, respectively.
Bob's Curse/Scorpio: Missiles gain a poison effect.
- Explosions leave behind a cloud of poison gas that will poison enemies in contact with it aside from the main target.
Brimstone: Missile explosions shoot ten blood lasers in all directions.
Brimstone Bombs: Missile explosions have a chance to shoot four Brimstone lasers in the cardinal directions. The chance to proc the effect scales with Isaac's luck.
Butt Bombs: Missile explosions will cloud up the screen, briefly confusing and dealing 10 damage to all enemies in the room.
Fire Mind/Hot Bombs: Missile explosions leave behind a fire that damage enemies on contact. Fire Mind's burn effect is overridden.
The Forgotten: The charge attack is replaced by a missile in the Forgotten's hand and a crosshair that may be moved for an indefinite amount of time. The missile is thrown at the crosshair when all attack buttons are released, with an additional melee swing in the same direction. The melee attack is unaffected.
Glitter Bombs: Missile explosions have a small chance of spawning pickups.
Homing tears: The crosshair slowly slides towards enemies.
Host Hat/Pyromaniac: Isaac becomes immune to his own airstrikes.
Ipecac: Missiles have a poison effect, have a larger blast radius and deal drastically increased damage, as the +40 damage from Ipecac is run through the damage multiplier of Epic Fetus.
- Adds flat +2 damage instead of +40. Explosions leave behind a cloud of poison gas that will poison enemies in contact with it aside from the main target.
Mom's Knife: Missile explosions shoot a ring of ten knives.
Monstro's Lung: 2 to 4 additional crosshairs orbit the main crosshair, and missiles are fired onto each crosshair.
Mysterious Liquid: Every missile explosion leaves a small, lasting pool of creep.
Nancy Bombs: Explosions have a chance to be affected by any of the bomb-modifier effects that synergize with Epic Fetus.
Polyphemus: Increased tear delay, but massively increases the missiles' blast radius and damage, as Polyphemus' damage multiplier is run through the damage multiplier of Epic Fetus.
Sad Bombs: Missile explosions fire ten tears in all directions. The shrapnel's damage is not run through the damage multiplier of Epic Fetus.
- The chance for the effect to proc is dependent of Isaac's luck. Chance goes up to 100% at 30 luck.
Strange Attractor: Enemies get drawn towards the crosshair.
Technology: Both fire normally. Missile explosions shoot ten Technology beams in all directions.
- Missile explosions shoot ten Technology beams in all directions.
Tech X: Missile explosions shoot ten Technology beams in all directions.

Interactions

8 Inch Nails: Missile explosions retain the knockback boost, so enemies that survive the blast will be knocked back far.
Anti-Gravity: Overridden by Epic Fetus. Stat effects are still applied.
Azazel: Azazel's mini-Brimstone is overridden by Epic Fetus.
Bobby-Bomb/Bomber Boy/Ghost Bombs/Mr. Mega/Scatter Bombs/Sticky Bombs: No effect.
Brimstone: Overridden by Epic Fetus.
Chocolate Milk: Reduces Isaac's tear delay by 20%. Missiles can't be charged.
- : Overridden by Epic Fetus.
Cursed Eye: Overridden by Epic Fetus.
Dr. Fetus: Overridden by Epic Fetus.
Godhead: Overridden by Epic Fetus.
- Stat effects apply and the crosshair gains a homing effect, but missiles do not have a damaging aura.
Homing tears: Overridden by Epic Fetus.
Incubus: Incubus fires normal tears while the crosshair is being aimed.
- : Incubus fires a missile alongside Issac's.
The Ludovico Technique: Overridden by Epic Fetus.
Monstro's Lung: Overridden by Epic Fetus.
Mom's Knife: Overridden by Epic Fetus.
The Parasite: No effect.
Tammy's Head/Varicose Veins: Fires only normal tears, not missiles.
Soy Milk: Not recommended. Damage of missiles is drastically reduced, and unlike normal tears, the fire rate will not significantly increase.
Spirit Sword: Overrides Epic Fetus.
Technology: Overridden by Epic Fetus.
Technology 2: Not recommended. Technology 2 is overridden by Epic Fetus, but the damage multiplier is still applied, massively reducing the missiles' damage.
- Both fire normally.
- Does not reduce missiles' damage, and both fire normally at the cost of a slightly higher delay between each crosshair appearing.
Tiny Planet: Overridden by Epic Fetus.
The Wiz: Makes two missiles drop in quick succession, and control of the crosshair is rotated 45 degrees clockwise. Not recommended, as it makes controlling the crosshair harder.

In-game Footage

Trivia

In the original game it was possible to control the crosshair with the mouse. This was removed in Rebirth.
- Mouse control can however be re-enabled by editing the options.ini file in C:\Users\<username>\Documents\My Games\Binding of Isaac Afterbirth/Rebirth and changing the line MouseControl=0 into MouseControl=1. Also useful for The Ludovico Technique.
The Dr. Fetus and Epic Fetus items are based off of Dr. Fetus, the main villain in Super Meat Boy which is a game by Edmund McMillen (the creator of The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth).
In Wrath of the Lamb, Epic Fetus could be found in both the Secret Room and Treasure Room item pools.
- Epic Fetus was added to the Secret Room item pool.
This item is used in Glass Cannon (challenge #11).

Seeds

PC GOBD W8TB (Treasure Room adjacent to spawn)

PS4 8ETR M2M9 (First floor Treasure Room)

PS4 B2B2 3J9G (First floor Treasure Room)

Vita 8G4J JFH8 (Treasure Room adjacent to spawn)

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth